When the G7 last met in Kananaskis, Alberta, in 2002, Jean Chrétien was prime minister of Canada, George W. Bush was president of the United States, and Vladimir Putin was there because it was the G8, not the G7. A lot has changed in 23 years, with the autocrat at the table at this year’s Kananaskis G7 not only sitting in America’s chair, but played by former reality show impresario Donald J. Trump. While Trump’s second term has been a rampage against the world order long represented by America as its superpower, his trade war has re-focused global policy energy toward economic urgencies, a development that helped propel former central bank governor Mark Carney to victory in Canada’s April 28th election. We thank our exceptional Policy writers for their excellent pieces on the diplomacy, the economics, the politics and the geopolitics of the June 15-17 Canadian G7.

We begin with Jeremy Kinsman, Policy‘s Canada and the World columnist and a former career diplomat who served as ambassador to Russia, to the EU and to Italy, and as high commissioner to the UK. “Canadian public opinion and politics have rightly been focusing on the threat Trump has posed to Canada’s sovereignty and security,” writes Kinsman in a piece on the G7 and Canadian values. “But Trump’s autocratic and anti-globalist worldview also undermines Canada’s international belief system.” Here’s Jeremy Kinsman with ‘Who is My Neighbour?’ Kananaskis and the Clash of Worldviews. And, Jeremy’s take on the May 7th Carney-Trump White House bilateral as a prelude to the G7, Can Carney’s Trump Whispering Save the Upcoming G7?

Senator Peter Boehm has served as Canadian Sherpa for six G7s, including the 2018 Charlevoix G7 that delivered such a colourful warning to the world about Donald Trump’s approach to rules-based multilateralism. In the latest of our series of Policy G7 Q&As, Senator Boehm adresses the Bobby McFerrin factor, ponders the known unknowns and advises against a final communiqué at Kananaskis, for obvious reasons. Here’s our Policy Q&A: Former Sherpa Peter Boehm on the Kananaskis G7. From January, the excellent background brief, Policy Q&A: Former G7 Sherpa Sen. Peter Boehm on Trump, Charlevoix and Bracing for Kananaskis. And, one of our most-read pieces from 2024, Peter Boehm’s review of the first-ever G7 comedy-horror film, here’s ‘Rumours’ as a Multilateral Morality Tale: Sherpas Really do Matter, and Canada Saves the Day.

Former career diplomat and host of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute‘s Global Exchange podcast Colin Robertson has filed the perfect crossover piece for our G7 and NATO pre-summit packages. “Carney hosts the G7 in Kananaskis, Alberta, on June 15-17, then meets with European Union leaders in Brussels on June 23, before heading to the Hague for the NATO Summit June 24-25,” writes Colin. “All three summits will test his chops as a diplomat and his declaration that ‘Canada is ready to take a leadership role in building a coalition of like-minded countries who share our values’.” Here’s Colin Robertson with Canada Needs More World: Mark Carney’s Summitry Launch.

We’ll be posting more G7 pieces between now and the week of the summit.

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